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George Benjamin’s Written on Skin Debuts in Aix-en-Provence; Hailed As “Superb”, “A Masterpiece”, “One of the Best Operas of the 21st Century”

Jul. 16, 2012

George Benjamin’s <em>Written on Skin</em> Debuts in Aix-en-Provence; Hailed As “Superb”, “A Masterpiece”, “One of the Best Operas of the 21st Century”

Six years following the composer’s first foray into opera, the successful chamber opera Into the Little Hill, George Benjamin’s second and highly anticipated opera Written on Skin debuted at the Festival International d'Art Lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence on July 7, and the opera is fast generating the reputation as a monumental addition to the 21st-century opera repertoire. Teaming again with dramatist Martin Crimp, his collaborator on Into the Little Hill, Benjamin has adapted the ancient Occitan legend of the 12th-century troubadour Guillem de Cabestany, who seduces a jealous man’s wife only to have his head severed and his heart fed to the lover. A story of adultery, jealousy and vengeance, Crimp creates a gripping narrative out of this gruesome tale that also deals with themes of emancipation, identity, literature and art. The Financial Times dubbed Written on Skin a “superb” opera:

Like Strauss’s Elektra, Benjamin’s score drives us towards the work’s gory conclusion with such dark inexorability that we feel guiltily eager for the final blood-bath. Benjamin-himself on the podium-deploys the excellent forces of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to chilling effect with a score that is atmospheric, descriptive, sensual and evocative.  Benjamin uses orchestral groups adroitly, sparingly, and tops them with vocal lines that are gloriously singable. Written on Skin will long outlive this run.The piece is superb.
- The Financial Times, UK

George Benjamin has written nothing better than this dark, erotic, violent and troubling opera - and that’s saying something. The 52-year-old British composer has been on an upward curve for years. Now, with the playwright Martin Crimp, he has produced a slow-burning but gripping 100-minute psychological chiller in which moods, mysteries and motives are evoked with stunning economy of musical means... Stratospheric violin counterpoints conjure intense creepiness, a bluesy muted trumpet speaks of sexual tension, frenetic clarinet whoops accompany a snatched illicit congress. It’s masterly...
- The Times, UK

Benjamin’s score is more impassioned, more sensuously beautiful and, at times, more fiercely dramatic than anything he has written before… the ability to crystallize a whole mood in a single mysterious orchestral chord or a bare, ticking percussion clockwork is magical. The large orchestra is used with maximum restraint, given its head only in the interludes that separate some of the scenes.
- The Guardian, UK

Sparking instantaneous standing ovation at its world premiere performance, Written on Skin is almost certainly headed straight for any list of the best operas of the 21st century so far.Written on Skin puts its dramatic, cinematic and percussion-filled music and difficult sung-through dialogue at the service of the relentlessly grim plot.
- France Today

Written on Skin was commissioned by the Festival d-Aix-en-Provence in cooperation with the Nederlands Opera Amsterdam, the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. The premiere production is directed by Katie Mitchell and is slated for further runs throughout the 2012/13 season at Amsterdam’s Het Muziektheater, the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, London’s Royal Opera House, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Theater an der Wien, the Bayerischer Staatsoper, and the Festival d'Automne, Opéra Comique.

Learn more on the opera’s premiere production by visiting www.festival-aix.com.

Information on the life and work of George Benjamin are found at www.fabermusic.com.

For a complete review digest, go to www.fabermusic.com.

George Benjamin
Written on Skin (2012)
opera in three parts
text (Eng) by Martin Crimp
for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone and countertenor
3(2.pic, 3.pic & afl).2.2.bcl(cl).cbcl.2(2.cbsn)-4.4(I.ptpt).3.1-4perc-harp-glass harmonica–bass viola da gamba-str
ca. 95’

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